Jesus, why move? Why change your hometown? Especially at a time when that wasn’t the norm? We’ve been asked that question several times over the last 37 years as we’ve moved to several places and churches. Any time you move, it is a conscious d...

Scripture: Philippians 4:2-3.

While I was in seminary, I preached at my hometown church. I blush today at how poorly I preached, but I was also a bit frustrated at the reaction of my friends, their parents, and others who knew me as a child. Evidently there was some obstacl...

Scripture: Philippians 3:1-11

Scripture: Psalm 11

We have spent time in the desert of Israel, where we’ve seen that Israel learned trust and dependence on God. Individuals would sometimes go back to the desert to hear God’s voice and prepare for some kind of ministry. Over the next couple of w...

George Barna is a Christian pollster who occasionally compares the behaviors of those who claim they are “born again” Christians with those who say they are not Christians. Each time the polls came out roughly the same: the behaviors of the two...

Scripture: Philippians 2:25-30

We continue our look at how Jesus might have been seen in his culture, moving from a faith healer (wonderworker) to another title some gave him: Rabbi (Teacher). In Matthew 21-22, we see Jesus at the Temple, overthrowing the moneychangers’ tabl...

Much of David’s imagery in Psalms comes from the desert: God as Rock (above flooding wadis), Fortress (masada - protection from enemies), Shade at your right hand (sustaining life in intense heat). But the most important image for God in the de...

There are two issues that might get in the way of people’s reading of this morning’s story. One is the impossibility of the miraculous, given the scientific understandings of the modern era. But there is nothing irrational about miracles if you...

Imagine you are a Gospel writer of the 1st century and you have the task of convincing people that this rabbi Yeshua is not just another claiming to be Messiah; he really is! Thankfully God has given you a lot to work with. He has shown how his...

As we noted last week, God’s covenant with Abraham, which was renewed with Moses & Israel, involved a promise of land. This land is described fifteen times in the Torah as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Not having grown up in the Mid...

Scripture: Philippians 2:14- 18  

We move from the first steps into the land of Canaan to the founding of the biblical nation of Israel. We may ask ourselves on occasion, what’s the big deal with the Middle East conflict we constantly hear about? Israelis and Palestinians fight...

Today is Cadet Sunday, and in keeping with their theme, we will explore Paul’s training of and instruction to Timothy. Timothy was special to Paul and he takes time to help him in the faith and even move him into the role of pastor for one of t...

Scripture: Phillippians 2:12-13

Last week we looked at Jesus as child in the Jerusalem Temple, ready to be about Father’s business. But the time isn’t right, so Jesus goes back to his parents’ home in Nazareth and is obedient to them. From his parents, not through traveling w...

This New Year we are going to learn about the land of Israel, its features and reasons God brought his people there. We’ll also look at some lessons from the land itself. Since the people of Israel entered the land in the book of Joshua, we are...

Over the next couple of months, we will focus on an exploration of “Jesus our Jewish Messiah,” with the underlying premise that to understand Jesus and his teaching more fully, we need to understand who he was within culture of day. One of the ...

Scripture: Mark 5:21-43

Scripture: Phillippians 2:5-11